SpaceX Successfully Launches 23 Starlink Satellites on Brand-New Falcon 9 Rocket

SpaceX marked its 60th Falcon 9 flight of 2025 by successfully launching a brand-new Falcon 9 booster rocket on the 20th of May. This rocket carries 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. Among those, 13 feature Direct to Cell capabilities. Originally, it was targeting 11:58 p.m. EDT on May 19 (0358 UTC on May 20) for the launch, but that try was aborted just before liftoff, for reasons that the company did not immediately explain. It was finally launched on Tuesday (May 20) at 11:19 p.m. EDT (0319 GMT on May 21) from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

About the launch

According to SpaceX’s mission overview, this was the first-ever launch for this particular Falcon 9’s (booster B1095) first stage. While most recent SpaceX missions have reused Falcon 9 boosters , a signature part of the company’s cost-saving and sustainability strategy ,Tuesday’s flight featured a rare first-stage debut.

The rocket successfully completed its initial mission, separating from the upper stage around two and a half minutes after liftoff. About eight minutes later, the booster made a precise landing on the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions,” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This smooth recovery sets the stage for future reusability of the rocket.

Technical Advancement

Of the 23 satellites onboard, 13 were outfitted with direct-to-cell technology — a feature designed to enable satellite connectivity directly to mobile phones, especially in areas lacking terrestrial infrastructure. After reaching space, the rocket’s second stage performed a short engine burn to circularize the orbit before deploying the satellites about 65 minutes after launch.

Starlink is the largest satellite megaconstellation ever constructed, consisting of about 7,500 operational satellites at the moment. And that number is growing all the time, as Tuesday’s action shows.